I'm having trouble tuning a 1.2 board using a TS1000 host. The K is razor sharp but I can't get the ZXpand banner text to display properly. If I tickle the pot I can just about get vaguely formed characters but the background is grey and noisy. Has anyone had success getting a TS1000 working with a 1.2?

So the new ZX8-CCB-SYNC is available at sellmyretro.
It offers a sync generator which avoid black screens with ZX80 or ZX81 using FAST mode.
There is no display contents but a blank picture shown with a small line in the top of screen.
It does support stripe patterns for LOAD/SAVE as well.

The price for the ZX8-CCB-SYNC is EUR 14.90 and there is also an upgrade kit available with just the micro controller to be soldered on existing ZX8-CCB. This requires the latest ZX8-CCB version V1.2 and medium soldering experience to handle the smaller pitch with 1.27mm or 1/20 inches.

Well some people told me, that LOAD and SAVE does not work with the current release of ZX8-CCB-SYNC. And that was correct, I tested LOAD/SAVE with a CRT monitor here and that didn't have sync problems.

So now LOAD and SAVE are supported as well on LCD or Plasma TV and the screen pattern is mixed with valid sync signals. This was a bit work, especially as LOAD and SAVE is very different. During LOAD short sync pulses are sent every 10-15us instead of every 64us. And during SAVE the timing is correct with sync pulses but there are missing lines.

All ZX8-CCB-SYNC ordered from around mid of november do support LOAD already and all orders from end of november do support SAVE, too. PAL and NTSC is supported and the inverted signal when used the J7 jumper from ZX8-CCB-SYNC. If somebody need an upgrade the easiest way is to remove the controller on the backside and order a new one via sellmyretro. I am sorry for this inconvenience.

Removing can be done best while heating the 4 pins on one side together, bend the chip with a small screw driver and remove while heating the other 4 pins. Then cleaning pads with solder wick. Just in case someone really uses LOAD and SAVE from audio (EAR/MIC). There is also a release marker shown during startup for about 1 second with a line pattern. Latest release is 1.2 - shown with 2 lines during startup.